Note 61 — Chapter V · DEITIES OF THE EARTH AND GROWTH PROPER

Xipe is in some measure associated with that sacred bird the quail, which has been connected with sacrifice in many lands. This bird frequently takes refuge in the last sheaves of grain in a harvest-field, and thus, perhaps, came to symbolize the corn-spirit driven from its last stronghold. In Normandy in the harvest-field the reapers pretend to catch a quail and dispatch it.61 The quail was sacrificed to the Tyrian Baal,62 and is associated by Robertson Smith with the god Eshmun-Iolaos.63 The bird-like character of Xipe’s dress may assist us in the belief that he was partially evolved from some bird of the quail species commonly found in the maize-field. He bears a strong resemblance to the Maya god F.